It can come at you in a horrifying instant. Videos from across the country show mattresses flying through the air, a wooden plank turning into a potentially deadly projectile, and in Michigan, a trailer hitch that pierced the windshield of a car.

Stuart Roy was driving when he was struck by something he never even saw.

"Glass went everywhere," Roy said. "When I looked back up, there was this pitchfork in my car."

In Seattle, Gavin Coffee was alone in his car trailing a truck loaded with construction site material in back.